"Ask and you will receive" (Matthew 7:7) is the promise of
our Lord. And the prayers offered by many a parish, our own included,
for an increase in priestly vocations (and for a generous response from
those to whom God's call is given) are being answered, and answered
very visibly right now. I am referring to what is happening at the St.
John Vianney Seminary, so overflowing this year
with candidates for the
priesthood that for a sizable number of the seminarians lodging has had
to be found off campus. For that matter, under the demanding,
unabashedly orthodox and very capable leadership of Monsignor Aloysius
Callaghan, the St. Paul Seminary, the archdiocese's Major Seminary and
theological graduate school, is flourishing, too, exulting now in a
"Second Spring" after-let him who reads understand- a prolonged, harsh
and dispiriting winter.

May I share with you a report that appeared in a recent
issue ( October 18 ) of the official newspaper of the Diocese of La
Crosse, The Catholic Times,
edited by Dan Rossini, son of St. John's parishioners Dante and Mary Jo
Rossini.

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Twin Cities
College Seminary Bursting at the Seams
By. Maria Weirling and The Catholic Times Staff

St. John
Vianney Seminary in St. Paul [on the University of St. Thomas
campus) has increased its housing, its staff and what it demands of its
students. And the men keep coming.
The seminary's numbers are at an all-time high, with an enrollment of
154 men from 28 dioceses, making it the largest college seminary in the
United States. It has more than doubled in size in the last six
years....
Students at college seminaries are typically in their late
teens and early 20s, studying for a bachelor's degree and gaining a
background in philosophy, the prerequisite for enrollment in a major
seminary, where seminarians study theology and related disciplines. Not
all of those in major seminaries have attended a college
seminary.
'There is a strong heroic sense of calling among these young men," said
Father William Baer, St. John Vianney's rector since 1998. "They have a
love for the Church and the Catholic faith that strikes them as a
mission, a battle, an adventure."
It's no secret that life at St. John Vianney Seminary is challenging.
The men attend a 6 a.m. Holy Hour daily; they fast from the Friday
midday meal; they undergo room inspections and maintain a
tightly ordered schedule. They're encouraged to
embrace difficult studies with prayer, and to grow in fraternity
with the other men, get in shape and face their social fears.
And the men rise to the occasion, said Father Rolf
Tollefson, who is called a "formator." He is a spiritual director and
lives with the seminarians. "The
men don't want to live a life of mediocrity," he recently told The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper
of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Matt Kuettel, 19, a freshman seminarian from Maternity of
Mary Parish in St. Paul, said that seminary life is an adjustment.
"They throw a lot at you at once, they expect a lot of
you," he said. "A lot of times you're more busy than you think you
should be. But, if I had to do this all over again, there's no doubt in
my mind that I would ... they give you the skills and they give you the
help to accomplish more." If
the seminary were easy, a healthy man would leave because he wasn't
challenged, added Father John Klockeman, who also serves at St. John
Vianney.
It sounds "too strong for some, but that's exactly what
young men and women want," he said. 'They want a faith to
die for. They want a faith for which to live. And they want a God that
is real."The
local seminary's enrollment upturn mirrors national trends,
which indicate an uptick in the number of Catholic seminarians in
undergraduate college programs, according to the Center for Applied
Research in the Apostolate, based at Georgetown University in
Washington.
Father Baer attributes the seminary's growth to an
increase in students coming from other Midwestern dioceses. The Diocese
of La Crosse has long utilized dioceses. The Diocese of La Crosse has
long utilized the seminary and has several priests who are alumni....

This
year 35 of St. John Vianney seminarians are from the Archdiocese of St.
Paul and Minneapolis.

This is the largest group of archdiocesan
seminarians there in at least 25 years, Father Baer said. It's also the largest
number of college seminarians from any single diocese in the United
States.

He
credits the increased number to the support and dedication of
archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the work of
archdiocesan vocations director Fr. Tom Wilson, as well as parishes and
families encouraging vocations.

"There is a renewed commitment to the Catholic faith by
high school and college students," Father Baer said, attributing the
phenomenon to events such as World Youth Day, with more young people
participating in Eucharistic Adoration, and with vocation directors and
bishops actively promoting vocations.

Although some dioceses are encouraging men to finish their
regular college degrees and then go into a
major seminary, a college seminary provides an environment that fosters
growth in character and in Catholic identity, Father Baer said.